Since the beginning of the Ukraine invasion by Russia to the arrival of the delegation lead by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the One China Principle seems to get a buzz on Taiwan and US-China diplomatic relations. Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), is an island located near the south-east coast of mainland China. Its strategic and geopolitical importance can be compared to that of Crimea in the Black Sea. On top of that, grasp on the island could possibly increase China’s dominance in the South China Sea, undermining US influence in that region.
The recent official visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan has undermined the One China Principle, as claimed by the PRC government. “The One-China Principle is the bottom line of China’s ties with other countries”, said the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a statement this month.
The PRC’s government doesn’t want the United States to be engaged in Taiwan, as it considers a “peaceful unification” process with the Taiwan authorities. It vows that any attempt at “Taiwan independence” will be crushed seriously. However, most of the Taiwanese people, as well as the current government oppose the unification. The One China Principle is also rejected by those who are in favor of the independence movement.
Although the use of the phrase “One China Principle” is quite homographic, it denotes different countries and authorities use the expression to explain their suitable policy measures. Let’s take a closer look at how each of the concerned authorities accept the One China Principle in their respective interpretations:
One China Principle of The People’s Republic of China (PRC):
The People’s Republic of China regards the One China Principle as, under the name China, there would be only one sovereign state and the PRC is its sole legitimate government. It considers Taiwan as a part of China that was split in the Chinese Civil War. That being so, it sees Taiwan as a breakaway province.
The centerpiece of One China Principle was the UNGA Resolution 2758, passed on 25 October, 1971. It solved the proper representation of the PRC in the United Nations, but unfortunately, the position of Taiwan remained unresolved at that time. The Republic of China (ROC) government, in reality, has a de facto control over the island.
Why the PRC government has become infuriated at Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan can be traced back by the three US-China joint communiques on the establishment of their diplomatic relations. One of the communiques in 1979 details the status of Taiwan:
“The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the US will maintain cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan.”
Therefore, the Chinese officials have reproached that the United States has sent an official congressional delegation transgressing China’s claim on the political status of Taiwan.
The PRC government has been increasing its military capabilities since it have passed an Anti-Secession Law in 2005. Presently, the PRC’S military might outguns that of Taiwan in almost every possible way on the ground, in the air and at sea. Taiwan may keep Chinese forces busy for at least some days if there is a direct possible war until foreign support arrives, which they obviously expect from the USA.
One China Policy of the USA:
There is no immense difference between the One China Principle of China and One China Policy of the USA, although it is indispensable to explore and understand the two distinct foreign policy objectives. The United States does not challenge PRC’s One China Principle, but rather acknowledges that the Chinese on either side of the strait maintain that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China. But it also does not recognize PRC’s sovereignty over Taiwan. In this manner, the leaders of the United States adopt somewhat dissimilar policy measures to their Chinese counterparts.
Many argue that the United States agreed with the PRC’s demands for China’s economic reform of the 1970s. But how would the USA hedge Taiwan if an invasion from the Chinese takes place?
One such act was passed and enacted in the US Congress in 1979, defining the non-diplomatic relations between USA and Taiwan, known as the Taiwan Relations Act, which treats Taiwan as a sub-sovereign state equivalent. No pledge was made up to protect Taiwan if the PRC makes an incursion nor does it repudiate it. Thus the policy has been coined by “strategic ambiguity”, and concurrently it impedes Taiwan to declare independence and the PRC to wage a war against the island.
Most of the US presidents have maintained the status quo even up to Nancy Pelosi’s visit, but recent discrepancies of the both major powers shove off the Biden administration to reassess the One China Policy itself to protect Taiwan if an incursion takes place.
How Taiwan perceives the One China Principle:
Foreign policies of major powers are weighed with greater importance in international relations whether less account is given to the concerned parties as we see with the recognition of Taiwan. Only 13 countries and The Vatican of the UN maintains full diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The current regime of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) however, considers Taiwan as an independent nation under the name of the Republic of China, comprising of the territory of Taiwan and the nearby Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu islands. Recognition is a big requirement for Taiwan as it cannot alleviate the crisis, due to bulky Chinese trade outside and diplomacy onwards.
Yet, the Taiwan independence movement caught a political boost after former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-Hui had declared that he would not challenge the communist authorities to rule mainland China. Thus, the controversy about to rule over mainland China was not the fundamental inquisition, a question that asked “who owns the legitimacy of Taiwan?”
“Taiwan has never been under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government, and the people of Taiwan will not succumb to threats of force from the Chinese government”, says Joanne Ou, Taiwanese foreign ministry spokeswoman in a recent statement.
The self-determined island proclaimed that China has been using Nancy Pelosi’s visit as an excuse to start up drills calibrating its naval power and exercise its whim over the people living under a democracy. After China’s largest ever military exercises, Taiwan also held similar live fire drills to prepare for any kind of upheaval.
“Only Taiwan’s people can decide its future“, announced Taiwan’s foreign ministry in another statement for the vindication of any ambiguity regarding the legitimacy of their freedom.
*The writer is a student of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
August 20, 2022
The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of Aequitas Review.
